Wednesday fitness fun fact

No late night eating to prevent weight gain?

It's a myth: After a long day at the office and a trip to the gym, you either eat dinner at 9:30 or starve. Right?

Wrong, here's the real deal: The no-food-right-before-bed rule was meant for the nighttime nosher who mindlessly wolfs down a bag of Oreos while watching CSI: Miami. If you get home long after dark, a late dinner is perfectly fine. A calorie is a calorie, no matter what time you eat it, according to Katie Clark, R.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of family health care nursing at the University of California, San Francisco. But do keep your evening meal light--along the lines of a chicken breast, steamed broccoli, and brown rice. Too much chow will keep you up at night: To break down all that food, your gut has to churn like a cement truck.